Throughout our journey of making a few cocktails with dark rum, we have encountered some methods and drink terms that might need more enlightenment. We have created this glossary so that we can attempt to explain some cocktail terminology used in the articles.
How to make Simple syrup
Bring equal amounts of sugar and water to the boil. For example, 300 ml of water and 300 ml of sugar. Bring it to the boil while occasionally stirring until all the sugar is dissolved. Let it sit to cool and then transfer to a bottle and put to the fridge to chill. You can also leave in room temperature.
How to rim your glass with Salt/sugar
Put some salt/sugar to a small flat plate. Rub a lemon or lime slice around the rim of the glass and place the glass onto the salt/sugar. Your glass is ready.
How to build a drink: When we say ‘’to build a drink’’, it means adding all the ingredients to a glass filled with ice.
How to make juice with the citrus press
How to use a lemon/lime squeezer: Many people have bought the citrus press as we like to call it, only to be disappointed. The reason for the disappointment is, they don’t use it properly. It is a simple piece of equipment but if you don’t use it properly then it is as good as useless. Contrary to the shape of the squeezer, you place the lemon/lime upside down so that the pulp of the lemon is facing downward to the squeezer as shown in the picture below. Also, make sure that you cut the fruit across and not along the longer side.
Fill a bottle with your juice for future use depending on your consumption. Use your juice within a week. The juice is at it’s best in the first three days. Store your juice in the fridge for longevity.
Soda water
You can find soda-water in most markets. The soda water available from Alko in small bottles is of high quality. Otherwise, any other soda-water will still do the job just fine.
Orange juice from the markets has been improved to taste almost like the fresh one. If you have a juicer then do not hesitate to make your own juice. Otherwise, the one in the markets is delicious. Go for the 100% juice.
Grenadine
If you cannot access grenadine from your local market, you can order it online, or make your own. It will save you time if you make it at he same time with the sugar syrup. The formular is the same. Use pomegranate juice (100% juice) and add equal amounts of sugar. Bring it to the boil and then chill. Grenadine is used mainly for coloring but brings some sweetness to the table too.
Dry Savannah mix
Add 4cl lime juice and 3cl orange juice, and the mix is ready. You can adjust this mix to make it more sour by adding lemon juice or sweetish-flavors by adding orange juice.
Stirring drinks
Stirring drinks is made simple with a spiralled bar spoon. It can range from 20cm to 30cm. Because a cocktail shaker is tall, a teaspoon may not work. To stir your drinks, gently turn the spoon around while stirring against the wall of the glass. That will move the ice around gently while rapidly chilling the contents of the cocktail.
Bitters: According to Dave Arnold in his book ‘’Liquid intelligence’’ he defines bitters as alcoholic infusions containing herbs, spices, peels, and bittering agents. Major bitters manufacturers have apparently kept their recipes close to heart. We have used them often in the drinks we have published. Use bitters sparingly as they can be powerful. We measure them in dashes or drops. A couple will usually do the trick.
How to use a (Boston) Shaker: Put your ingredients into a shaker, preferably Boston shaker and cover with the Boston shaker glass tilted sideways. Give it a gentle hit using the bottom of your palm to seal it and shake vigorously for the cocktail ingredients to shill rapidly. With a Boston shaker, you will need a Hawthorne strainer to strain the contents. The shaker consists of the metallic part and the glass part.
Jigger/Tot measure: At easiley we use the European standard gigger with two sides measuring 40 ml and 20 ml.
Zest: This is common with the orange fruit. Using a sharp knife, cut a thin strip of orange or citrus fruit so that only the skin comes of. None of the whitish flesh of the fruit should be on the skin. You can then twist it and/or press it over the drink so that it can release oils and aromas to the drink.
This glossary will be growing as we introduce new terminology and drinks.